Although, today wasn’t completely normal, for the RE-led afternoon activities included two new occurrences: pool time and a trip to downtown Burlington! In including these, the REs are making sure that the activities don't get too monotonous for the students.

Students at the pool had the chance to cool off in the water for about an hour—or, in some cases, get a bit of lap-swimming in for exercise.

The lifeguard, who was on-guard, was a tad confused at first, since everyone was speaking in French. However, after being told about the Summer Academies, he was pleasantly impressed that high schoolers would dedicate that large of a chunk of their summer to language learning.

A small group of students traveled to downtown Burlington for a couple hours this afternoon. In one large group, they made the trek to Burlington, catching the public buses for transportation.

While there, students were able to shop, purchase Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, roam around and explore the area. Several students came back with shopping bags of clothes—and, in some cases, already wearing their new purchases.

Later in the evening, the French Academy came together for an Academy-wide meeting, in which David—the French Language Director—asked the students if they were "tired yet." After saying this, he asked the students to raise their hands if they were experiencing fatigue, and, to no surprise, most of the students raised their hands.

David cited this as being an indicator that the program is working. As he said last week, fatigue is one of the four stages that every student will experience at some point in the four weeks. Next, as he said, is frustration.

However, when he asked if any students were experiencing any frustration, very few students raised their hands.

“It’ll come,” he said with a smile.

After David’s brief speech, the students took the stage. Students from every class went up and discussed what they’ve been learning, and then, for most, did a small presentation or skit. Most of the skits—if not all—incorporated lots of humor, which kept the whole audience laughing throughout each presentation.

Once everyone had went up, the meeting was adjourned and the students returned to their respective dormitories.